Encoding “The Capital” in Edo

Abstract

This paper investigates the way in which Edo (Tôkyô) was built in desolate Musashi Plain and how it was given a symbolic focus at the bridge of Nihon-bashi. We also reveal how Edo laid out to evoke, in certain crucial respects, the old capital of Kyô (Kyôto). Edo was a new city, and the Tokugawa could construct as they wished. In the crucial north-west sector (kimon), they chose to gather a group of buildings consciously referring to Kyô. This was a deliberate “encoding” of Kyô within the city which, after 1602, became the shogunal capital. Edo city planning has been much studied before, but the aspects addressed here have never been concertedly examined.